Author: Glen Jennings

Thoughts from HDI’s Walt Bower On Autism Acceptance Month

Posted on | by Glen Jennings

For Walt Bower, Preservice Training Coordinator for HDI, there’s an important first step to take when talking about how best to support autistic people. “People need to learn what autistic people want them to know,” Bower said. “That is why I prefer to talk about autism acceptance instead of autism awareness.” Bower’s perspective falls in line with a shift that’s becoming more and more popular in how organizations and people are talking about autism. And April, which used to be called Autism Awareness Month, is consequently being reframed as Autism Acceptance Month for a lot of people.   

“I think this shift reflects input from autistic individuals and other community leaders as well as our commitment to sharing how we can promote advocacy for human and civil rights for all usautistic people,” he said. And that change in language is important, Bower said. Often, those calling for awareness do so without the input of autistic people. As a result, it’s been less helpful.  

“Sometimes, autism awareness campaigns, albeit well-intentioned, can make people who are not familiar with autism afraid of autistic people,” Bower said. “It has done more harm than good…It’s presented autistic people as bad, or autism as something that needs to be cured.” So if it doesn’t need to be cured, how should people approach autism?  

According to Bower, a big part of it is accepting that autism isn’t abnormal. “I think we need to think about disability and autism as part of life,” Bower said. “We need to recognize disability and autism as one integral part of diversity. Autistic people can get stigmatized as just being autistic when autistic people have many different identities, as leaders, students, workers, employers, parents, family members. Autistic people have and lead rich and fulfilling lives that are shared with the people all around us.”  

He also highlighted some of the models through which disability is viewed – in particular, the medical model of disability, which views disability solely through a lens of conditions that need medical intervention, a problem that must be solved, and the social model, which thinks of autism as just a part of human diversity that deserves to be accommodated. Bower also spoke of another model that he’s intrigued with that tries to find a way to incorporate elements of both models. He’s excited to see where those discussions lead and to learn more in the future. But he thinks it’s important that those discussions always seek to include a diverse range of people with disabilities, autistic people included.  

“The slogan of the disability rights movement is ‘Nothing about us without us,’ which means that autistic people need to be involved whenever autism is discussed,” Bower said. “We want to make sure that autistic people are included in conversations about autism, whether those conversations are about lives of autistic people or autistic people as a whole in our society…Autistic people know the problems that autistic people face, and have a lot of ideas how to solve them.”  

This article represents the opinions of the author and interviewee, not that of the University of Kentucky. 

A group of wooden blocks in various shapes and colors

Child Care Aware of Kentucky Block Project

Posted on | by Glen Jennings

It might be surprising to learn that one of the most powerful tools for teaching children during early development is the humble building block. And yet, according to Cynthia Willmarth, Early Education Quality Coach for Child Care Aware (CCA) of Kentucky at the University of Kentucky Human Development Institute (HDI), they can have a profound impact on children in their earliest years.

“If you look at an early childhood curriculum, we talk about cognitive development, which is language, science, math, and all those things. We talk about social/emotional development, which includes learning to take turns, cooperate, being part of a social group, and physical development, which is both large motor and small motor,” Willmarth said. According to Willmarth, blocks can help young children learn every one of these concepts. She compared blocks, which allow for endless creativity to something like a puzzle, which only has one solution.

The Block Project aims to help early childhood educators harness the power of that tool. Funded by the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood through the 0-5 Early Childhood Regional Collaborative with support from CCA Coaches, this effort is a model for partnership and teamwork. Mary Howard, HDI’s Division Director for Early Childhood, says, “This was a wonderful collaboration that built on our community partnerships in the region. A great opportunity for our CCA coaches to expand the knowledge of child care providers while also modeling locally and nationally a way to build strong partnerships that benefit all”.

Child Care Aware coaches developed a curriculum around blocks, shared ways to make an effective block center, identified the kind of materials that go in block centers and discussed the teacher’s role. “But it’s not so simple as putting a bunch of wooden blocks on the floor and letting kids do what they will. You need the proper equipment and the proper training. To get a set of unit blocks or a set of hollow blocks with the necessary shelves for proper organization and storage, you’re looking at probably $1,000…if you have ten classrooms, that’s $10,000,” Willmarth said.

There are many times that a federal program will provide a quality set of blocks and everything you need to make them work…but not the training to understand how to unlock their full potential. According to Linda Fowles, an Early Education Safety Coach with Child Care Aware, that training is essential too. “I don’t think they do understand the potential of the materials,” Fowles said.

This is a big part of what makes the Block Project special – most trainings do not provide the materials, and often when schools receive funding for blocks, the training to use them correctly doesn’t come with it. The Block Project provides both. “I think that’s why this project left such an impression,” Fowles said. “That was another very important component of this training, to share simple information and simple concepts with them. Not only did they receive these expensive materials…the teachers also learned these very simple concepts.”

The results, Fowles said, spoke for themselves. “They were stunned at how much the children enjoyed playing in the blocks,” she said. “They were so impressed with it that they talked to their school administrators about ordering more sets of blocks for other classrooms. Until they were exposed to this project, they didn’t realize the importance of these materials.”
Almost 20 different programs have participated in the Block Project, each receiving at least $1,000 worth of materials.

Learn more about early childhood education in Kentucky at the following websites.

Child Care Aware of Kentucky at childcareawareky.org.

Kentucky Governor’s Office of Early Childhood and Regional Collaboratives at kyecac.ky.gov

HDI Celebrates Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month 2023 with Amanda Stahl

HDI Celebrates Developmental Disability Awareness Month

Posted on | by Glen Jennings

This month (March), HDI celebrates Developmental Disability Awareness Month. For some people, that may lead to questions about what defines a developmental disability. Developmental disabilities are conditions that begin during development and usually last throughout a person’s life.

For Amanda Stahl, LCSW, it’s a wide spectrum. 

“It’s a disability that happens before the age of 18,” Stahl said. “A disability that affects your daily life skills. It affects your development, how you become who you are as a person.” 

But at the same time, Stahl stresses that there is a human being behind every label and every diagnosis. 

“In my work, I don’t focus only on definitions. I focus on people’s stories,” she said. 

As part of her work with Merge, an HDI project focused on improving mental health access for individuals with mental health conditions and developmental disabilities, she’s helping ensure those stories are told. 

Merge seeks to improve the mental health systems that support people with co-occurring mental health conditions, and intellectual and developmental disabilities. Stahl is one of the researchers interviewing people with lived experience for Merge. 

“Some of the work that I’m doing is going around Louisville and going around to different parts of the state and collecting people’s stories around their experiences with mental health and disability,” she said. “What were the good experiences they had, what were the negative experiences they’ve had, what would they want to recommend to other direct support professionals and providers?” 

Stahl thinks that isolation, loneliness, and societal expectations placed onto some people with disabilities can have a tremendous negative impact on the mental health of individuals with disabilities. 

“It’s not done on purpose,” she said, adding that some have difficulty find more positive ways to think about themselves until they find ways of building community and experiencing inclusion. “People with disabilities may be isolated from other people with disabilities, including older people with disabilities,”

She also noted that she sees patterns in the interviews she’s completed. For example, she finds that even experienced mental health providers can have difficulty working with people with developmental disabilities, especially those who are in more controlled environments. Sometimes individuals, she says, may not feel like they have the space to feel or process their emotions. Another thing that she noted is that a lot of individuals with lived experience feel like outsiders. 

“Knowing my own story, a lot of their stories are very similar,” Stahl said. “I felt like I was the only one until I met this one person.” 

Stahl hopes soon to do more research on individuals in day programs to get an even wider view on what the community’s needs are. From there, the information will be used to develop training that will be designed for individuals and providers around the state. 

“I’m trying to get stories from the most impacted people,” she said. Ms. Stahl stressed that people often underestimate others due to disability – something she says is a mistake. 

“There may be limitations to what someone can do,” she said. “But always assume people can do more than you think they can.”

Amanda Stahl, LCSW, is a Disability and LGBTQ+ Activist from Louisville, Kentucky. Amanda is the lead organizer and director of a non-profit organization called the Independence Seekers Project (ISP), organized and developed by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Summer Leadership Camp Experience Group Picture

HDI Summer Leadership Experience Camp Registration Open Now

Posted on | by Glen Jennings

Over the years, Teresa Belluscio has had a lot of people ask her how to create an experience like HDI’s Summer Leadership Experience Camp.

Many have taken inspiration from it, she said. But none have managed to create something quite like it.

HDI will be hosting its seventh Summer Leadership Experience Camp July 12-15,2023 giving high school students with disabilities the chance to explore their options for choosing a career including a path for training or higher education.

“Camp is geared towards high school students with disabilities entering their junior or senior year,” said Belluscio, who is an HDI Disability Program Administrator. “Students who are thinking about or who have articulated plans to continue their education or training past high school.”

While it had always been held in person in its first few years, COVID necessitated finding a way to make it work virtually, and later years used a hybrid model with some students attending in-person and some attending online. HDI administrators found they liked the additional accessibility that having an online option provided and has offered it as a part of the camp ever since.

“We liked that because we felt like that was more inclusive for students across the state of Kentucky,” Belluscio said.

Students who attend will get the opportunity to learn more about higher education options such as colleges, technical schools and trade schools that includes furthering their education past high school. The camp will give them instructions in how to choose a school that’s right for them, what different types of institutions can offer and how to pay for college. Attendees will also hear about how to navigate some of the unique challenges that students with disabilities can face in higher education.

“We want our campers to hear directly from college students with disabilities about the experience of college”. We talk about academic accommodations and on-campus living that students might want to have and how to advocate for themselves. We offer a panel discussion that includes college disability resource offices discuss how to obtain services,” Belluscio said. “We want to prepare students for their transition from high school to their next step of education.”

“A lot of the students tried the climbing wall. Some of them that tried it had never done it before,” Belluscio said. “Some of the students who hadn’t tried it before found a lot of victory in doing this…I was amazed by a couple of the campers who would just try over and over. Every time they tried to climb, they got a little higher than the last attempt.”

The deadline for registration is March 31. The camp is sponsored by The KY Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, and in-person campers should be Vocational Rehabilitation clients with an individual plan for employment in place. Virtual campers who are not clients will be asked to complete eligibility requirements. Apply at https://uky.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_79iWt1NRUaMfZqK.